Our Fault
by SpaceSnail
Summary: The three members of Torchwood 3 are seeing ghosts... the ghosts of their long-dead colleagues. What they have to say is terrifying. I'm back again after a long hiatus, now with a short, single chapter story. It was written for a writing prompt on one of the writing clubs on Whovians Amino This is set between Exit Wounds (series 2) and Children of Earth, so it contains spoilers...


The rain was particularly heavy today. It could be heard deep into the Torchwood Hub. Ianto was slumped on the sofa, wide awake. His hands were clasped on his stomach. He yawned. He was tired after a long day, but still couldn't sleep. Gwen was at home with Rhys, and Jack was downstairs asleep. Ianto's eyes fluttered and closed. He was only asleep for three hours when an unnatural noise rudely awoke him. He couldn't take his eyes off of what stood in front of him.

Owen. It was Owen. But Owen was dead. It couldn't be Owen. No. No it couldn't. Surely.

"Owen?" Ianto asked incredulously.

Owen stared at him, mouthing something.

"What are you saying? I can't hear you..."

Owen turned from silent to screaming, "I BLAME YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU KILLED ME!"

Ianto was lost for words, his mouth had gone dry, he couldn't blink, he just stared. Guilt had crept upon him. What had he done? He killed Owen. He did. Ianto blinked. Owen had vanished into thin air. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"What the hell was that?" he said to no one in particular.

Ianto didn't sleep that night. He couldn't even possibly consider it, not after what had almost frightened him to death. He waited until the morning to tell Jack.

As usual, he placed Jack's coffee on the desk and smiled.

He paused before leaving, "Sir, did you see something... weird last night?"

"What kind of weird?" Jack smiled.

"Well... I saw-" before he could continue, Gwen entered the office looking worried.

"Jack. Sorry to cut in like this, but I saw Tosh last night. And, I know I sound crazy but please believe me."

"That's strange. I saw Owen last night."

"Ianto! Why didn't you tell me?" Jack flapped his arms, exasperated.

"You were asleep!"

"No... No, I wasn't. Suzie appeared to me last night."

The three looked at each other in horror. It wasn't too perculiar to see ghosts in Cardiff -it was all due to the Rift, but ghosts of people they had worked with, their friends... that was something else entirely.

Gwen had been sat at Tosh's desk for about six hours. She was looking at recent rift activity, and so far, nothing. The rift seemed fine. There was nothing unusual, or at least nothing unusual for Cardiff. A slow, gentle whisper crept behind her. Slowly, Gwen turned around and gasped. Behind her was Tosh.

"Tosh? Wha- How are you here? You're-"

"Dead. Yes, I am. Don't be scared... I'm real. I'm really here," Tosh explained.

Gwen shook her head, thinking it was just her mind. Tosh was still there. She rubbed her eyes. Tosh was still there. She massaged her temples. Tosh was still there. She blinked. Tosh was not there.

Gwen looked shaken up when she spoke to Ianto shortly after.

"What happened?" he asked as soon as he saw her.

"Tosh happened."

Ianto stared at her. He knew she wasn't kidding around. He sat Gwen down and hastily made her a cup of coffee. Her hands were shaking and her face was deathly pale -if the situation wasn't as serious, someone would probably have made a joke.

"I'm gonna get Jack, he'll know what to do."

Ianto was cautious walking to Jack's office, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next. Enveloping him, a whisper. He spun round and round, trying to identify the source of the whisper.

"You. You killed me. You killed me twice. It was your fault. YOUR FAULT!"

Owen. Again. Back again.

"N-n-no... What? Owen? Owen, I didn't kill you!" Ianto stuttered, shaking.

"I blame you. It was all your fault. Your's and... Jack's."

_How? How was it our fault?_

As if he was a mind reader, Owen explained, "You didn't come to save me. You could have done. But you didn't. You left me to die. You didn't care."

"That's not how it was," Ianto muttered, avoiding all eye contact.

"I hate you," Owen hissed before fading into thin air.

Ianto didn't look back as he ran to Jack's office. Jack was studying a file and didn't look up straight away when Ianto ran in.

"Jack..." Ianto panted.

Jack still didn't look up, he gestured for Ianto to sit down. Something wasn't right, but Ianto did so.

"Jack-" he begun.

"Tosh and Owen. I saw. They're real. Not figments of our imaginations. And Suzie. She's real too. She'll be here in," Jack glanced at his watch, "Thirty seconds."

Ianto was worried. Jack was too serious. Even when the world was ending, Jack still cracked a smile.

"Jack?"

"Ten seconds. Nine."

"Jack."

"Eight."

"Jack."

"Seven."

"Jack!"

"Six."

_"Jack! Please!"_

"Five."

_"Jack! Jack, please!"_

"Four."

_"Jack, listen to me!"_

"Three."

_"Jack! Hear my voice!"_

"Two."

_"Jack, no!"_

"One. She's here." Jack looked at the door.

As he had predicted, Suzie materialised. Ianto froze where he sat for this wasn't what Suzie looked like. Her skin wasn't attached to her body in some places, her eyes bulged, and she wore a ripped up cloak. She looked like she had crawled out of a grave.

"I have," she hissed, reading Ianto's mind, "This is what Death looks like."

Ianto couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. He tried. There was no hope. He felt warm tears of anguish trickling down his cheeks.

"Pl-" he croaked, still unable to speak.

"It's your fault. It was your's and Jack's," Suzie snarled.

"That's what-" Ianto had found his voice.

"Owen said. Yeah, I know. But two people said it, therefore it must be true."

"You're not people," he looked at her directly.

Suzie.

"No, I am Death. I have conquered Death and now I am Death itself," Suzie cackled.

She vanished. Jack fell over his desk, unconcious. Overwhelmed, Ianto wept.

Jack was disorientated when he awoke. He stared at the coffee perched on his desk. He grinned. Ianto had been there. Ianto was still there. He looked serious.

"What is it?"

"You don't remember?"

"No."

Ianto explained in fine detail exactly what had happened. Jack stared on in disbelief. Once he had finished, Ianto suggested Jack go to bed to get some rest. Grudgingly, Jack agreed. Ianto went back to Gwen.

On the table, she had left a note:

_I didn't feel so good after what happened earlier on today. Rhys has taken me home on the assumption I'm ill. Please don't tell him just yet._

_Thanks,_

_Gwen_

Ianto shrugged and began to make himself a well-deserved coffee. He was tapped on the shoulder. He was unprepared for what came next. Tosh, Owen and Suzie stood in front of him, all painted with solemn looks.

"Ianto. Listen to us," Tosh said, calmly.

"Yeah, listen teaboy," Owen said, mockingly.

Suzie stood silent.

"You are the most human, Ianto. Jack, he's too old, too adapted. Gwen, she's... she's not you," Tosh whispered.

"What do I do?"

"You have to run, leave these two to die," Owen smirked, "They don't deserve to live."

"Yes they do," Ianto said through gritted teeth.

"Let me take them, Ianto", Suzie said longingly.

Ianto shook his head, defiantly, "No."

"Yes," Owen and Suzie whispered.

"You're not real. I don't have to listen to you."

"Oh, but we are," Suzie cackled, manically.

"It's your fault we died," Owen chanted.

"It's your fault we died," Suzie hissed.

They looked at Tosh. She stepped forward.

"It's," she gulped and was glared at by Suzie and Owen, "It's your fault we died."

"I blame you."

"I blame you."

"I blame... you."

The three dematerialised on the last 'you'.

Ianto ran and burst into Jack's room, close to crying.

"Jack... It's our fault. Owen said so. Suzie said so. Even Tosh said that it was because of us they died."

"They're not real Ianto."

Ianto nodded and the tears flowed, "They are. They really are. The things they said..."

He shook his head.

Jack embraced him and heard the faintest little whisper from Ianto's lips,

"They are. And it's all our fault."

And somehow, Jack believed it to be true.

'It's our fault,' he thought.


End file.
